I haven't read the two installments that follow, but from what I gather they were also very good, most likely stronger than this one. Mrs Harris is a two-dimensional stereotype of a 'working class' person (or rather, a romanticised view of what a middle class person of the era might think a 'working class' person to be). He then worked for the National Board of Motion Picture Review, and after six months took a job as the motion picture critic for the New York Daily News. A wonderful Paul Gallico novella is ‘The Lonely’ about a US pilot stationed in the UK during WW2 and surprisingly modern in its description of the relationships between the sexes and the consequences you have to face for the decisions you make.

During his stint there, he was sent to cover the training camp of Jack Dempsey, and decided to ask Dempsey if he could spar with him, to get an idea of what it was like to be hit by the world heavyweight champion. By a series of miscommunications, mistaken identities, and misunderstandings of what ‘char lady’ could possibly mean, Mrs Harris and her friend Violet Butterfield (the wonderful Vi, who wants none of the adventures that Mrs H seems to thrive on) are believed to be spies by the KGB and believed to be aristocracy by others high up in Russia.And the actual raging toward the Russians and Moscow in this book is so disrespectful I was shocked. Author Paul Gallico attacked the Soviet government with a vengeance – I have to wonder about his own KGB dossier.

My daughter and I loved the film and I usually enjoy the original book version of the story even more. Nancy Mitford wrote a short diary of her time in Russia, it’s in The Water beetle if you fancy another look at Russia. Arris Goes to Paris, I was throughly charmed as she was a multi-dimensional character in a delightful book enriched with wonderful drawings.Harris is a bit of an adult version of Amelia Bedelia and I find the series charming, especially the Paris story. Something definitely happened with this last book in the series: just looking at cover art leads me to believe there was a switch in publishers, their illustrator was lost, or there was a drastic shift in marketing strategy (perhaps all? She decides to courier a message from one of her lovesick clients to the Intourist guide he fell in love with on a previous visit.